Richard Amato is the Director of Strategic & Global Initiatives at the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), the premier business incubator of the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). In addition to his work at ATI, Richard serves as faculty for the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin leading Global Connection classes around entrepreneurship and sustainability. Leveraging off his prior efforts with the Global Innovation Lab and the World Bank, the class supports entrepreneurs at Climate Innovation Centers (CICs) in Africa and around the world in real time as they work to drive their venture forward.

Richard also serves as the Managing Director of Carpe Aestus, a consultancy building off his extensive experience supporting hundreds of companies and organizations around the world with a focus on sustainability and developing markets as they look to commercialize their technologies. Holding worldwide acclaim for his groundbreaking involvement in clean energy business development, Amato has been featured as a keynote and panelist in various conferences throughout the world: Austria, Denmark, Ghana, India, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malaysia, Norway, South Africa and Vietnam.

Prior to rejoining the University, Richard founded and served as President and CEO of Venti Energy, a renewable development company dedicated to increasing the supply of clean, reliable and affordable energy. Previously he founded the Clean Energy Incubator (CEI) at UT Austin, the first incubator of its kind dedicated to supporting sustainable ventures.

Never standing still, Amato wants to ensure he does his part in leaving the world a better place for what's most important to him - his children.